JUDGE ALLOWS ANYONE TO RUN

A federal court judge stunned the Connecticut political establishment Monday with a ruling ordering the state to open the September primary ballot to any candidate who simply fills out a one-page eligibility form.

U.S. District Judge Peter Dorsey decided two weeks ago that the state's primary system is "overly burdensome" and most likely unconstitutional. On Monday, he issued an amended ruling that further clarifies his position: Any person can force a district or state office primary as long as he or she is registered with a political party and provides an address.

The decision alters election law in the middle of the campaign season, significantly changing the way candidates are chosen for office. The ruling could affect this year's races for governor, Congress, more than 100 state House and Senate districts and any of the statewide constitutional offices, such as treasurer and attorney general.

Just hours after Dorsey issued the ruling, plaintiff Edwin Gomes submitted a form to enter a primary against Democratic state Sen. Alvin Penn in a district serving Stratford and Bridgeport.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz planned to respond in two ways -- the state will follow Dorsey's order while also preparing for a hearing Friday before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

The ruling drew sharp criticism from the state Republican and Democratic parties, legislative leaders, the attorney general and the secretary of the state. With just five weeks left before the Sept. 10 primary, state officials said, the ruling could plunge the election process into disarray and confusion. Dozens, if not hundreds, of candidates could try to force primaries, officials said.

Candidates would not have to gather a certain number of petition signatures as in some states; they would need only submit a form to the secretary of the state by Aug. 16 -- a standard that would make the election system one of the least restrictive in the country, Bysiewicz said.

"It is the single strongest evidence of judicial legislating I have seen in all my time in state government," said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin B. Sullivan, D-West Hartford. "This is an invitation to political chaos." The plaintiffs, led by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, declared the ruling a long overdue step toward prying open Connecticut's closed system of nominating candidates.

"There should be no mistake that the reason Judge Dorsey did this was the legislature's refusal -- despite the plain unconstitutional nature of the statute -- to confront the issue in a reasonable manner," said William Bloss, the plaintiffs' lawyer. "This day has been inevitable since 1955 when the statute was passed."

Dorsey invalidated a provision in Connecticut law requiring challengers to gain support from at least 15 percent of convention delegates to force a primary against a party-endorsed candidate. The system has been criticized as granting too much power to party insiders to choose candidates and too much protection to incumbents.

The legislature has attempted several times to establish a direct primary system in which candidates could petition their way onto the primary ballot without first appealing to party insiders. Those attempts have always fallen short -- in part, political observers say, because some legislators are reluctant to change a system that benefits them.

Following the July 23 ruling striking down the primary system, legislative leaders declined to call a special session to pass direct primary legislation.

In his ruling Monday, Dorsey chided the legislature for brushing aside the issue.

Dorsey initially refused in his July 23 ruling to tell the legislature what to do, saying it was not "within the power of a federal court to fashion state law." He then denied two of the plaintiffs -- Gomes and Jim Campbell of Greenwich -- access to the September ballot.

Dorsey took a different approach Monday by explicitly laying out standards that he said would prevent the plaintiffs from suffering irreparable harm.

"Forty-seven years after having created an election scheme of dubious constitutionality, the legislature apparently is not prepared to act, despite this court's explicit invitation to do so," Dorsey wrote. "The implication that the injunction ... is a causal element of any crisis rings hollow, particularly when the legislature, which now has had three months in which to consider taking corrective action, appears not to be interested in so doing."

Sullivan and House Speaker Moira K. Lyons, D-Stamford, said Monday that they would not raise the primary issue during the upcoming special session for budget-related issues. They criticized Dorsey, 71, for going too far in his ruling.

Blumenthal raised questions about Dorsey's decision, in part because the state political parties were not included in the proceedings. Blumenthal says the rules of political parties -- protected under the U.S. constitution as superceding state law -- are an essential component to consider.

Howard L. Reiter, a professor of political science at the University of Connecticut, said the ruling shows that "the handwriting is on the wall" for the state to change its election laws. While the ruling is significant, it may not pose a threat to party-endorsed candidates because there is so little time for challengers to organize.

"It's an uphill fight for those challengers," Reiter said.

The second plaintiff, Campbell, said he would decide by the end of the week whether he would challenge U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District. Shays said he would look forward to any primary, but was surprised by Dorsey's decision.

"It sounds like Dorsey is writing law rather than passing judgment," Shays said from his office in Washington D.C. "I'll live with whatever system the judge rules, but I am surprised he would not require signatures."

Penn, the state senator who faces a challenge from plaintiff Gomes, was less conciliatory. He said the ruling disenfranchises the voters who pushed him to victory in a May delegate primary. Penn said it throws his planning into disarray. He hasn't been raising money or building the campaign network necessary to conduct a primary.